It's time for the most anticipated night of MITBCA 2012!

Following my previous post about Day #1 of MITBCA 2012, a celebratory dinner was in store for us that night

It was The Gala Awards Night; where a private dinner affair was thrown to give recognition & appreciation to all who have worked their jammies off for MITBCA (Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Awards) 2012 and where trophies were awarded to the 16 winners of their respective categories.

It was an honour to be invited for the aforementioned dinner affair.

My plus one and I 

The event was held at Saloma Theatre Restaurant, a very apt choice of venue for MITBCA 2012 indeed.

It showcases a 1 hour cultural performance nightly and boasts an amazing variety of the Malaysian cuisine.

FUN FACT 

The restaurant was named after the late Puan Sri Saloma – a household name 4 decades ago. She was a talented singer-actress and wife of our legendary actor P.Ramlee. The famous screen couple's classic movies are still loved and watched by many to this day.

Saloma Theatre Restaurant at night

Caught up with some friends. Flanked by Wilson & David! 😀

With buddy Joe at the photowall! 😀

Upon entering the theatre dining room, we were greeted by cultural dance performers by the entrance.

All set and ready to give their opening dance when the VIPs and Guest of Honours arrived!

Dr. Ng Yen Yen, our Minister of Tourism, making an entrance!

I just love how cheerful and bubbly she is

Dance performance!

Presentation of a beautiful painting as a souvenir

Yang Berhormat Dato' Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen giving us a delightful opening speech welcoming us all

and thanking everyone for making MITBCA 2012 a success

Live Band performance!

After all the stage happenings were over and done with, dinner was ready to be served.

I sat down at my table, looking forward to devour some noms to satiate my overdue hunger pangs

But first, a wee bit of camera love! 

Local delicacies for a great dinner feast!

Some of the food we ate tonight

My fave one was the Stew Lamb Shoulders with Black Mushroom 

Whilst enjoying our food, we were entertained by a few performances: a live stringed ensemble band, two singers & a comedian.

Local singer Atilia serenading us!

Local comedian Kuah Jen Han amusing the crowd with a rib-tickling performance!

Was glad that Theboyf could understand some local inside jokes!

I taught him well 😀 😀 Yay!

Had some time to kill after dinner.

Being the social butterfly I am, I went around to meet up a few friends for a bit of catching up 

One of them was Jojo! 😀

She was also here to help Yuna receive the award on her behalf

Before we knew it, it was the prize-giving award ceremony!

Zairulkefli – recipient of Celebrity Blog award category

Janggel – recipient of Eco-Tourism Blog award category

Dr. Angelo – recipient of Expat Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) Blog award category

 Zuraida – recipient of Fabulous Food 1 Malaysia Blog award category

EB Ong – recipient of Homestay Blog award category

John – recipient of Tourism Destination Blog award category

 Wilson Ng – recipient of Tourism Duty Free Shopping Blog award category

 Nazuwan – recipient of Tourism Entertainment Blog award category

 Emilia Yusof – recipient of Tourism Lifestyle Blog award category

Jojo Struys on behalf of Yuna – recipient of Tourism Music Blog award category

 Edy Zaidi – recipient of Tourism Photography Blog award category

Steve Yu – recipient of Tourism Technology Blog award category

 Zarah Naumul – recipient of Tourism Travel Blog award category

 Andy Telasai – recipient of Tourism Micro Blogger of the Year award category

 Bella – recipient of Malaysia International Tourism Blog of the Year award category

My heartiest congratulations to all the tourism bloggers who bagged home their respective awards!

It sure is nice to receive some recognition for all your hard work, ey? 😀

Perhaps someday I will too. My efforts will be awarded with a shiny piece of pride they call a trophy

A girl can always dream 🙂

After the award ceremony, there was so much merry-making in the room.

The speakers, award recipients and everyone was asked to join in and try a hand in our cultural dance.

Everyone was such good sports! 

The Joget Melayu was performed alongside a few others like the Tarian Zapin & Dikir Barat

Or at least that's pretty much what I recognize them as.

Hopefully my Malaysian history knowledge hasn't left me just yet! 😛

Joget joget dance along!

Clap clap! Apart from traditional performances, the popular upbeat folk song was danced along to as well…

THE CHICKEN DANCE!!!!

OOOOMPAH OOOOOMPAH!! Dance with us! 😀 😀  

Looks like all the dinner guests were also up for the Chicken Dance!

LOL candid shot of me in my element – working & reporting the ongoings of the event!

But before I had the chance to say no, I was dragged outta my seat to join the Chicken Dance as well.

Alright, fine. Hey ho, let's go! 😀

Gee, I look somewhat silly 

Theboyf also caught a candid video of me doing the Chicken Dance.

….. I shall ensure that it never sees the light of the day LOL 

All's well ends well. I was glad I participated. It was so much fun! 

The event ended with a closing speech by Dr. Ng Yen Yen and she thanked us for our time and kindred spirits we united tonight.

She was impressed with the true spirit of tourism resonating from our hearts and filling the room with so much festive air and liveliness  

For more of the Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Awards (MITBCA) 2012, you might want to check out the rest of what I've blogged! 🙂

• EVERYTHING YOU WANNA KNOW ABOUT MITBCA – here
• ANNOUNCEMENT OF MITBCA WINNERS! – here
• DAY ONE OF MITBCA – here
• …and watch out for my final blogpost about MITBCA DAY TWO 😀

SALAM SATU MALAYSIA! MALAYSIA TRULY ASIA!

It was the first day and the first session ever of the Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Award (MITBCA) 2012 organized by our very own Ministry of Tourism and the Social Media Chambers.

For more, check out both my previous blogposts where I shared what MITBCA 2012 is all about and announced who the award winners are.

Rise & shine! On the morning of Day One, I was all set and ready to go.

Semi-formal/smart casual outfit of the day. TheJessicat wears : 

Black pin striped blazer by S.U.B

Pink tank-top by Tommy Hilfiger

Black high-waisted skirt by Cotton On

Grey peep-toe suede wedges by Nose

Brown leather satchel by Forever 21

When I arrived Seri Pacific Hotel, the ballroom was already buzzing with delegates!

Wow, talk about being enthusiastic. Great turn out, guys 

9.30AM | Our very own Minister of Tourism, YB Dato Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen set the ball rolling with her keynote speech & welcomed us all.

This photo only shows half of the ballroom

Sheila Scarborough (prominent specialist of Social Media application on Tourism Businesses)

gave her talk on the ‘outreach beyond travel bloggers’

This catered more to business owners of the travel & tourism related industry.

She shared how to identify one’s niche markets, where to find them, how to connect to them and recommended ways on how to interest them in one’s destinations and places of interest.

11.30AM | After her Tourism Social Media Specialist Talk, it was time for the first panel session to begin.

This session shares the ways of creating an engaged social media community

A friend of mine, David Jr. Hogan of Malaysia Asia, was one of the speakers for this session

Good on you, pal!

He talked about the community expansion through travel and sharing the Malaysian experience 🙂

Other speakers of this panel include other notable people in this similar field of expertise, Ali Watters from Scotland, Kiruba Shankar from India and Shane Dallas from Australia.

I found each of their sessions very enlightening and by the end of this panel session, I can bet your bottom dollar that everyone had learnt a thing or two about building active communities through blogging and how to promote destinations & services through new media platforms such as blogs and twitter.

1PM | LUNCH HOUR! 

Time to stretch, mingle about and take a break over scrumptious buffet lunch

Buddy Joe and I – good luck in your speech later! 

Muzaffar and I

David and I – great speech earlier! 

Made a new friend and fellow blogger  – Lash from the US of A 😀

Hanie and I – good luck on your speech later dearie! 

Bumped into a one of my blog readers, this lovely lady beside me, Glow!

So nice to meet you after a few years of interacting with you only on my blog and on Twitter.

She replied my  tweet the night before the conference & mentioned she was attending the conference too. Another new friend made today 

It was very nice of her to approach me to say hi! We talked and clicked well 

2PM | The second panel session, which began right after lunch hour, focuses on entrepreneurship in tourism using social media.

Now, we’re talking about the money money money here! $$$$$$

A good friend of mine, Joseph Lee began the session by

sharing ways to create good leads and generating immediate income

I found his talk informational and very ingenious! 

Good titles, how you say things online to first capture your readers/viewers attention is just as important as being dedicated in selling yourself well to gain monetary returns.

The next speaker was Anuradha Goyal from India who crafted many good ways

on how to create a tourism blog that generates interest

Dr. James Craven from the UK speaks about the importance of feedbacks & market interaction

Improving customer services through social media – something EVERY business must bear in mind.

Iman Brotoseno from Indonesia then shared how to drive engagement effectively

and adding value to social media via travel blogs

After almost two hours, it was time for the third panel session to begin after a short break.

To my surprise, I spotted my friend Khairul Anuar whom I’ve not caught up with in a while.

It slipped my mind that he was the moderator of the final panel session!

Great bumping into you today, pal! 🙂

The session that he moderates will emphasize on effective campaigns through the new media – enjoying one’s holiday and sharing it to the world.

Hanie and I again.

See her rolled up paper? 😀 She came well-prepared on what to say

And it begins!

3.30PM | The session began with Windy Ariestanty from Indonesia who spoke about lifestyle & travel – going places and blogging about it.

She shared her experience and fun with the delegates.

Michael Aguino from the Philippines presented crafty ways to write

& blog about shoppers paradise in different countries

Good to know! I found his talk very entertaining and I learnt heaps from it as well 😀

Next up was Anis Nabilah, host of ‘Icip-icip’ a television program on the Asian Food Channel (AFC)

She shared about the food junction : eating > drinking > blogging! 

Hanie was the final person to speak!

She spoke about how she started travelling with her family at a very young age and finally decided to document her travels online. Hanie also spoke on how to closing the gap and connecting closely to one’s people.

5PM | Day One of MITBCA 2012 ends!

It was great to have reunited with so many friends from the industry that I have not seen in a while as well as meeting a whole new bunch of people from various fields of expertise.

Apart from that, the conference went very smoothly in a perfectly organized manner and it was enlightening to hear different perspectives of the panelists regarding tourism blogging, travelling and social media.

Two thumbs up to the team!  

Today was a fantastic day of information sharing and a good flow of questions and answers from the delegates and endless discussions.

Alright, I shall freshen up and put my best foot forward for tonight’s MITBCA Gala Award Dinner.

Looking forward to more in store for us on Day Two! 😀

Just got word that there will be a notable two-day conference followed by a prestigious awards ceremony that's all happening early next month.

I am more than honoured to be one of the official bloggers to represent and blog about the Malaysian International Tourism Bloggers Conference & Awards – an event of such a grand scale!

This global event for bloggers – organized by the Ministry of Tourism in association with Social Media Chambers – aims to honour and award tourism bloggers across the globe for extensively promoting tourism in Malaysia.

16 categories and 16 awards will be awarded to the most deserving travel bloggers who blog about tourism, tourist spots and share Malaysia in one way or another.

It's good to know that the government has acknowledged and is now riding on

the waves of blogging and social media! 🙂

Experience our city that never sleeps. Think : food, shopping & nightlife!

Immerse yourself in our cultural experience & getaways!

An excellent move to boost tourism in Malaysia, if I do say so myself. 

The ministry aims to attract 36 million tourists, a goal targeted based on last year's 24.6 million tourists last year.

The two-day conference will be held on :

8th & 9th of May 2012 at Seri Pacific Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Do come! Registration is FREE

It's gonna be a very informational and enlightening session,

with international guest speakers as well!

Nominations have been closed and locked in – a whopping 100K nominated blogs in total!

Voting period has begun and closes on the 1st of May 2012.  

All the best to all the finalists! 

So you know what to do… vote for your favourite or most deserving travel blogs at MITBCA website! 😀

For more information, head on to the official website itself at www.mitbca.com

Also, while you're at it, stay updated with the latest regarding the event on Twitter @MITBCA2012 and check them out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mitbca